GAMMT - Chapter 72
Chapter 72: Following
Since Bus 1 was confirmed to be sorted by point ranking, effectively dividing the candidates into tiers based on strength, what about the other buses? Were they also arranged by rank?
Essentially, all the candidates on the other nineteen buses were secretly trying to figure out their own standing, feeling a sense of superiority the closer their bus number was to the front.
Coincidentally, Lao Lu and several of his teammates were on Bus 9, as were Pang Ci and the Lin siblings. They figured it was most likely based on rank. Although they were former rivals, facing countless powerhouses from other cities had forced them—the so-called "three trash cities"—to band together, albeit reluctantly, especially the students from Gao Yang and Jingyang.
Wu Xiaomei grumbled, "What bloody bad luck, being stuck with you guys."
Pang Ci retorted with a sneer, "Well, of course. Who told you not to surpass the benchmark set by my big brother and get into one of the front buses?"
Is your 'Grand Paramour' brother a benchmark?
He's more like a cesspool.
Wu Xiaomei rolled her eyes while eating potato chips. "By that logic, does that mean we're in the middle? That doesn't seem likely."
"Little sister, you're too naive. I noticed just now that the 200 people on Bus 20 are seriously stacked. At the very least, our neighboring Luque City, one of the five major cities, has most of its top contenders on Bus 20."
The young man who struck up a conversation with them was from another city. He was relatively optimistic and cheerful, not treating everyone as an enemy. Happy to chat, he mentioned this observation while snacking on chips.
The people from Jingyang, perhaps having been thoroughly screwed over by Fu Chuan, were more restrained and polite in their interactions, afraid of offending anyone. But their cautious words and actions seemed to annoy others.
"A bunch of idiots. How could it be sorted by points? If it were, would we be on the same bus as you?"
"Our scores are basically all over 150,000. How many do you guys have?"
Originally, the three cities had fewer people and their scores were clustered together at the bottom. It was an unspoken assumption that they wouldn't be placed in the middle.
They were self-aware enough not to need others to humiliate them.
But the ones doing the humiliating seemed to have high scores. They must be strong, right? What if they couldn't beat them?
"They seem to be from Luoyu City. Their city has forty people in total, and their top three all have over 250,000 points. They're definitely stronger than us."
The Jingyang students all glanced toward a certain seat at the front, while the Gao Yang students looked at Lu Shu. Lu Shu felt a bit embarrassed. Damn it, he had already said they needed to keep their heads down once they were outside their three cities. He didn't want to be put on the spot. Was he qualified to take charge?
Neither Luohe Sanqian nor that sly fox, Liu Yun, the "Big Milk," had said a word.
So, Lu Shu also looked toward that same seat at the front…
No reaction.
A Gao Yang candidate sitting in the same row as Fu Chuan silently typed in their group chat: He's asleep.
Hearing this, the students from the three cities decided to just let it go. Those who were pretending to sleep kept pretending, those chatting kept chatting, and those eating kept eating.
Patience brings peace; taking a step back opens up a world of possibilities.
But staying completely silent felt a bit shameful. So, after a moment's thought, Pang Ci replied.
"Bro, that's a bit insulting. The difference between our fifty or sixty thousand and your score is just a single digit in the hundred-thousands place, isn't it?"
Perhaps not expecting such shamelessness, the group from Luoyu City was momentarily stunned. But three of them exchanged glances and sneered in unison.
"That's right. So our ranks are only off by a digit or two as well."
The implication was that among the two hundred people on the bus, if they were in the top few dozen, the students from the three cities would be ranked somewhere in the high one hundreds, close to two hundred.
The words were harsh. A glint flickered in Pang Ci's eyes, and he fell silent.
Seeing them swallow their anger, the group from Luoyu City probably thought they were easy targets and became even more brazen with their insults.
When it came to forbearance, someone like Liu Yun was adept at judging situations. He gave his teammates a look, signaling them to remain indifferent. But inwardly, he was suspicious: Luoyu City was the type of city that was better than the worst but couldn't compare to the best. Logically, since they were all on the same bus, regardless of the arrangement, there shouldn't be a huge gap between them due to some underlying rule. Besides, Xie Keli was no pushover and had extensive connections. Why would they suddenly provoke them?
Something fishy is going on.
Stay out of it. Absolutely stay out of it.
Fu Chuan was indeed asleep. She was exhausted from the previous night. After declining Fu Qiang's dinner invitation, she had spent the night cultivating, researching Qin Minfeng's background, and making preparations, working very late.
Most importantly, she had to recall the little locust. Summoning it through the pet space required converting the actual physical distance, which consumed a significant amount of mental power and elemental energy. On top of that, she had been refining Meditation Puppets amidst the "explosions." All in all, she had been "busy" all night, and the toll was substantial.
She was awakened by the bus's broadcast.
They had arrived at the transfer station.
The sudden announcement startled her awake.
My god, what the hell? Why does this broadcast have to use that certain fruit-branded phone's alarm ringtone? It's so anxiety-inducing.
Terrifying.
With dark circles under her eyes, she rubbed her eyelids and looked at the display in front of her, then out the window. She realized they had long since left the city and seemed to be in a remote, outlying area surrounded by natural scenery. Up ahead, she could see a massive structure that resembled a service area.
One of the guild teachers on the bus was quite old-fashioned and rustic. Like a tour guide, he held a battered megaphone and shouted, "Wake up, wake up! We've reached the transfer station. We're thirty minutes from our destination. This is a rest stop. Anyone who needs to can get off and look around. Those who don't can wait on the bus. You have fifteen minutes to use the restroom or buy things. After everyone is out, there will be a ten-minute assembly period. We depart on the dot."
The bus had already slowed down and was pulling into the transfer station.
The students here were exceptionally sharp. They all took out their devices to check the geographical coordinates but found no signal. However, their communicators worked just fine.
That meant there was something special about this place, deliberately preventing them from identifying their location.
Nearly all the candidates from the twenty buses got off.
Fu Chuan was among them. After disembarking, she happened to see a message on her communicator.
It was from Pang Ci—a long, detailed essay describing the taunts and jeers from those thugs from Luoyu City.
Big Brother, I even have a recording. Do you want to listen? I have a feeling they were indirectly dissing you.
Fu Chuan listened to a few seconds before turning it off and heading into the sales area.
Just as she entered, a beep sounded.
"Backpack automatically unequipped. According to exam rules, you are only allowed to carry three items with a total weight not exceeding 50KG. Explosive mechanical weapons are prohibited. If you agree to these terms, you will receive a complimentary 100 points to select items inside (Note: items are permanently yours)."
Fu Chuan frowned slightly. It was starting already?
This was likely to limit the help from external resources, but not to completely negate a candidate's background—after all, from the perspective of the nation or the academies, a candidate's family background was a form of long-term capability.
It was just being weakened to a certain extent.
But what if she refused? Would she retain the right to use the resources in her backpack but lose the right to purchase anything from the shop?
They were being forced to choose… what was most advantageous for them.
In any case, those from poorer backgrounds with few resources would definitely accept. As for the Orange Blood or Blue Blood families, it was hard to say.
Although Fu Chuan had connections with a Blue Blood family on one side and an Orange Blood family on the other, she was actually broke. She had spent all her money and had no significant support resources. Besides, they were allowing her to keep three items…
So this was how they were playing it?
The shop had many entrances, each requiring verification, likely in separate cubicles. The candidates rushed over, afraid of wasting time.
Fifteen minutes, and fifteen seconds had already passed.
Afterimages blurred past Fu Chuan.
Fu Chuan, however, was in no hurry. She was thinking, making the most beneficial judgment for herself. But a quick look around revealed no additional information.
It seemed she could only rely on her own understanding of this re-selection exam to determine her needs.
Talent, combat power, and strategy.
She felt the re-selection would test these three key areas. When Zhou Linlang had given her the files on Qin Minfeng and the others, she had also mentioned the selection biases of the Big Four Academies. Each of the four had its own preference.
This is what she had said: "North Gai favors talent, South Chen favors practical combat power, West Jin favors family background, and East Guan favors strategy."
At the time, Fu Chuan's reaction was: "Dong… guan? Which 'guan'? The one with the grass radical on top?"
But she had taken the information to heart. Considering the power rankings of the Big Four Academies in recent years, West Jin was the strongest overall due to its students' backgrounds, while North Gai produced the most individual prodigies because of its focus on top-tier talent. East Guan was the most unique; its students had the highest survival rate in dungeons…
In terms of influence within the guild, the ranking was West Jin, North Gai, South Chen, and East Guan.
Therefore, the focus of this exam was most likely on resources, talent, and combat power, with strategy being the least valued.
The competition would probably involve throwing 4,000 candidates into a single arena for a free-for-all slaughter, unlike the more complex and detailed stages of the high school entrance exam.
Even if there were designed stages, they wouldn't be convoluted. This meant that combat resources, like items that provided temporary power boosts or battle consumables, would be used frequently.
The most important thing was still resources.
Wasn't this a blatant bias towards the nobility? Fu Chuan suddenly understood that there was an inside story to this re-selection exam for the Big Four Academies.
"Although the Big Four Academies are public institutions, the strongest high schools supported and recognized by the empire, enjoying first-class national subsidies and support, wherever there are people, there are politics. There is no absolute fairness, especially with the existence of the guild. The guild is mostly filled with established powerhouses and nobles in important positions. Not all of them, but most certainly have their own selfish interests and favor their own class. This has, to some extent, influenced the content of the re-selection exam."
In itself, this wasn't wrong.
But there was a trap. This transfer station seemed to set up a hurdle to suppress external resources, helping grassroots candidates, but it actually gave noble students a chance to retain their resources, while the grassroots… mostly gave up that right.
Since she had seen through this, shouldn't Fu Chuan be even more determined to keep her resources?
No, no. On the contrary, Fu Chuan directly chose to give up her backpack, opting for a standard one. She quickly took out three items: medicine and a Meditation Puppet.
She didn't even consider a third item, to reduce her weight.
Why this choice?
"With this kind of test, North Gai and East Guan Academies probably wouldn't be happy, as it suppresses talent and strategy. Yet, the exam content still passed their approval, as well as the review of the public authority, the Education Ministry. This means there must be a setting hidden within the exam to balance this unfairness."
"By grasping this setting and mastering these rules, I can maximize my advantage."
"The Orange Blood families are too difficult to deal with. Especially if they are also aware of this setting, they might be able to both hold onto their resources and leverage the advantage of the setting…"
The guild probably wouldn't leak information, and the Education Ministry wouldn't allow it. But one shouldn't underestimate the geniuses from these families; they were all formidable. Growing up in that environment, some of them probably thought the same way she did.
Fu Chuan took half a minute to consider, then ten seconds to make her choice, and entered directly.
By doing so, she actually entered the shop earlier than those who had arrived before her, because she was so calm.
Upon entering, her vision flashed, and she found herself in a quiet shop. There were a few other candidates scattered around, but before they could get a clear look at each other, they all darted off, moving at top speed toward the items they wanted.
Fu Chuan took a step, cast Invisibility, and took advantage of the sparse crowd to use Mimicry and change her face. When she reappeared, she was a different person.
The place was like a real-life Sam's Club—huge, with a dazzling array of items. Every kind of treasure was available.
And next to each shelf, there were category notes and price tags.
There were items for 1 point, a few points, and even dozens of points.
In the 1-point section alone, there were large quantities of potions, and these potions were somewhat special.
Low weight, high efficacy—clearly designed for this exam.
Fu Chuan suddenly thought: Although this exam is shady, the items are free. After all, the announcement said they wouldn't be collected back.
With such a specific reminder, many would probably be ecstatic and rush straight for the rarer, more valuable gene treasures that were hard to acquire through normal channels.
While using Mimicry, Fu Chuan was also moving rapidly. Her actual combat power aside, her speed was definitely top-tier. She headed straight for a 100-point section.
When she arrived, she scanned the area and found the shelf looking a bit bare. There were few items, and the quantity of each was low. There were ten items in total, with only ten of each available.
What to choose?
My god, they even had the gene blood-swapping agent she had used before, and it was of a higher grade than the one she got from Little Skinner.
For free?
Fu Chuan immediately reached out and grabbed a puzzle.
The moment she took the puzzle, she noticed the quantity note below it was rapidly decreasing!
Heavens!
6… 5… 4… 3… 2…
Another hand suddenly materialized from invisibility, appearing right as the count hit 1. Swish!
The puzzle was in Fu Chuan's hand. The other hand grabbed empty air.
"Give it to me. I'll trade you a hundred points for it."
"Don't be foolish."
The young man before her had a cold, commanding voice, and the Orange Blood clan emblem on his chest faintly glowed.
Fu Chuan glanced at him and immediately turned and ran.
As she ran, she thought: That clan emblem is a saber-toothed crocodile. Orange Blood. That must be the Crocodile Cloud Que family, one of the four great Orange Blood families of Beluke Province.
What bad luck. She didn't want to clash with these scions of great noble families. From the start, her first goal was to kill Qin Minfeng while under pressure from people like Donglong Zhao. Her second goal was to get a good rank and study hard. Her third goal… she hadn't thought of it yet.
Her ambitions weren't that grand, because she knew her own limits. There was likely still a gap between her and these Orange Bloods.
But who would have thought she'd run into one directly?
It was all because of this impromptu exam rule… She couldn't just give up a good 100-point item for something secondary.
"But if my luck is good and I have the capital to contend with them, I won't care about making a few enemies."
"Good thing I disguised myself beforehand."
"I've integrated the little locust and all my disguise-related abilities. If he can see through this, then the gap is just too wide. I'd die on the spot, and I'd have to accept that."
And if he couldn't see through it… then she was still safe.
In truth, she didn't know much about the Orange Blood families. The one she was most familiar with, the Demon Orchid Xie Clan, specialized in pupil techniques, focusing on perception and stealth. The other three were the Crocodile Cloud Que Family (specializing in offense and speed), the Heavenly Light Li Family (balanced in offense and support, with generations of exceptionally strong light element affinity and a gene talent focused solely on the light element), and the Secret Beast Yun Family (skilled in raising pets, with a natural high affinity for pets and innately high mental power, allowing them to bond with multiple pets without strain).
The four families each had their strengths, but overall, the Li Family had the longest history and was widely recognized as the number one in Beluke.
But regardless of which family it was, Fu Chuan felt a sense of apprehension and didn't dare to provoke them. So… she ran.
The young man was taken aback, but then he sneered. He swiped a finger across his pupils and scanned Fu Chuan's body…
In that instant, he saw through her Mimicry.
In his vision, the first layer he saw was the face of a dissolute pretty boy, but beneath it was another layer, somewhat blurry. Because she was running so fast, he couldn't get a lock on it.
He could only vaguely make out the face of another young man and memorized the contours of his bone structure.
The young man didn't rush to give chase, because the items on the 100-point shelf were almost gone. He quickly purchased an item—a peak blue-grade poison of some kind.
As he made the purchase, he was also comparing the face he had just memorized with his memories.
"Xie Keli? On the surface, it's Xie Keli, but underneath is someone else. This person is disguised as him? They must have a grudge."
That narrowed down the scope considerably.
After taking the item, the young man unhurriedly used his remaining time to wander around…
When Fu Chuan went out, she had already changed back to her own face. She browsed casually for a bit, thinking to herself: As expected, that Orange Blood candidate also figured out the setup and decisively used his points to exchange for a relevant item. The question is, why didn't he seem to be in a hurry to chase me just now?
She hadn't used her maximum speed. If he had wanted to, he could have caught up. Buying an item from that shelf wouldn't have taken much time.
"This confirms his perceptive abilities, and also that my secondary Mimicry effect is decent enough. It made him think he already knew my 'true' identity. But it also confirms he has more important things to do. Could he be observing what items other candidates are buying, preparing to rob them during the exam?"
That was most likely the case.
Fu Chuan sighed inwardly, but this was a world where the strong preyed on the weak. There was nothing to be said about it. She browsed for a couple more moments and then went straight out.
There were still twelve minutes left before the purchasing period ended.
So… only a few people had come out.
Perhaps because few had emerged, and because there were more people like that Orange Blood youth with ulterior motives—at the very least, even if they weren't planning to rob anyone, they wanted to know what resources other candidates had bought.
Right now, they were all rivals.
There was nothing strange about that.
Those who gave up this opportunity and chose to come out directly were the odd ones out.
After coming out, Fu Chuan casually took out a cigarette… Just as she lit it, she saw a slender young man with smooth black hair squatting in a corner, eating a melon…
While eating, he was telling the girl next to him, "Don't rush me, don't rush me! I just wanted to bring some fruit in, but they won't let me! Ah! I'm not throwing it away, I'm going to finish it!"
"Eat, eat, eat, eat yourself to death! If I hadn't dragged you out, were you planning to use all 50KG of your weight allowance on fruit?"
"No way, how could I! Yun Baobao, you underestimate me!"
"Get lost! When we get back, I'm telling your sister… you idiot! If you don't make it into the top ten in this exam, just wait for her to skin you!"
"Wuwu, I'm eating, don't disturb me."
Bright red watermelon juice dripped all over the ground. He probably noticed Fu Chuan, who was lighting a cigarette, looking at them with a complicated expression.
A sense of shame must have kicked in. The handsome, slightly freckled young man opened his mouth, and red juice gushed out.
Fu Chuan: "…"
A little scary.
But that Yun Baobao was probably from the Yun family, and she was the same girl who had been arguing with another boy in front of Bus 1 earlier.
A dual blue-pet Arcanist.
She was incredibly strong. The force with which she slapped the boy's back was also quite powerful, making loud thumping sounds, as if she were one step away from sending him to his own funeral.
Fu Chuan silently turned away, smoking her cigarette as she sauntered off… Behind her, she could hear the girl muttering about how embarrassing he was…
After a few puffs, Fu Chuan glanced at the buses but wasn't in a hurry to go back. There were still ten minutes before they were called to assemble. She decided to use the restroom…
The men's restroom was quite large and elegantly decorated, like the latrines in the mansions of ancient nobles, built amidst a garden and rockeries.
It was both elegant and secluded.
Many candidates came here after making their selections…
The four from Luoyu City were no exception.
"What did you guys pick?"
"Damn it, I wanted to go for the 100-point section, but it was already empty when I got there. Crap! I turned around, and the items in the tens-of-points section were gone too. I had to frantically grab something else."
"Just dream on. The 100-point items were definitely the best. We couldn't have gotten them anyway. Those powerful noble scions and the top candidates from Beluke City and the other four major cities are all stronger than us. They would have snatched the best resources in seconds."
"Not necessarily. Why did it seem like some people didn't even go in? Or they went in and came out early?"
"I don't know… Hey, what do you think that Xie Keli chose? I wonder what those other guys picked… Ah!"
Before the four could react, they were dragged deep into the woods behind the rockery by several ropes made of light and spider silk. They had just tried to resist when one of their attackers released a cloud of smoke, another a white goose, a healer cast a halo, and the top two assassins from the three cities—one with a knife and the other short and stocky—lunged forward for a swift, heavy strike… But these four were no pushovers. A linked secret formation instantly activated between their bodies, and cards popped out.
"Crap, it's a support card, dodge!"
There are many types of cards, belonging to a different resource system. They are generally alchemical items, not natural ones. Even if they drop in a dungeon, they must come from a monster or BOSS that is itself an alchemist.
The linked card effect now jumping between the four from Luoyu City originated from them all having the same type of card. It was called "Four-Person Linked Shared Defense and Status Cleanse."
The name reflected its function, quite in line with the practical mindset of alchemy—concise and clear.
Right now, the four were sharing each other's defense and status-cleansing effects.
All the negative statuses inflicted on them by the ambushers were instantly wiped clean, and their defense was boosted by 40%.
Holy crap!
The ambushers were frustrated and quickly chose to retreat, but the four were not about to let them get away with it.
"Damn it! Die!"
"You dare ambush us? You're looking for death!"
The four were an established team, far more formidable than this ragtag group. They were just about to unleash a powerful composite Arcane attack.
Cloud, Rain, Thunder, Lightning!
Sparks of electricity danced through the dense woods… Suddenly!
Interrupt!
A level 20 Interrupt.
It was timed perfectly with the lightning Arcane's skill activation, precisely controlled, and struck the palm of the left hand of one of the core members controlling the lightning source.
Bang!
A single bolt in the dense web of electricity was severed, and the spell collapsed.
Then… Light Glory + Light Stream + Light Explosion, all at level 20, a devastating attack!
The defensive turtle shell of the four's linked card formation was directly bombarded by this intense halo of light.
The light was so strong it blotted out the entire forest…
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